


Metal-Smith and Bowstring

by Morgyn Leri (morgynleri)



Series: Fireside Tales [18]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Arcane Works, GFY, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-18
Updated: 2013-12-18
Packaged: 2018-01-05 02:26:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1088499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgynleri/pseuds/Morgyn%20Leri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mountain-fire and ice-gold. Blue-steel and star-iron. Forged metal and carven stone, linked and riveted.</p><p>Heart-stranded, feather-gold, white-steel, raven-flight and blue-steel, bow-wood and sinew.</p><p>Metal-Smith, Fire-Smith, Stone-Smith.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Metal-Smith and Bowstring

**Author's Note:**

> Fíli, at a lesson with Suliol on anchor chains for arcane work  
> Prompt: Chain  
> Alternate Universe: Flame of Durin
> 
> and
> 
> Kíli, making his anchor chain  
> Prompt: Wood  
> Alternate Universe: Flame of Durin

"Mountain-fire and ice-gold." Suliol twists her hands in the air of the forge, and Fíli feels the tug against his own. As if there is a physical chain there, held between them. "A good chain for a metal-Smith."

"But not for a Stone-Smith?" Kíli is standing to make a triangle of the three of them, watching Suliol with a small frown on his face.

Suliol shrugs. "Look for yourself, Raven-Born." She shifts, letting go of the chain Fíli had been trying to create, and he shifts his weight to accomodate the change in tension with only a little stumble. Flicking her wrist like she's tossing something to Kíli, who closes his eyes before reaching out as if to catch.

Kíli's frown doesn't fade, and he doesn't open his eyes, tilting his head as he looks at what he's caught. Not speaking for a long moment, but smiling right before he does. "Mithril and adamant, riveted with star-iron?"

"You have an eye for it." Suliol chuckles, watching Kíli with an amused but unfocused gaze.

"Heavy, so you don't get pulled away by the currents under the stone?" Kíli tilts his head, and Fíli wonders what he's seeing, because Fíli still cannot even see the chain he'd managed, only feel it still in his hands, slack without another to hold the other end.

"The deep stone has strong currents, and the fire-rivers stronger yet. It is a strong one who may work in them, or one with a good anchor and strong chain." Suliol tugs gently, and Kíli leans back before shifting his weight, and opening his hands to let the chain drop. "You would best ask your uncle of the fire beneath the mountain, Raven-Born. Now, a chain of your own, like your brother."

* * *

However often he's tried, he can't visualize a chain like Fíli's, or like his uncle's, made of forged metal and carven stone, linked and riveted. Kíli leans against the edge of the bath, alone for once, though likely only because Fíli has to sleep if he's going to be at the Council meeting tomorrow like he has to be. One that Kíli doesn't have to attend, because he's only the second Prince, not Heir.

Letting out a soft sigh, he turns his gaze down to his hands, even though his eyes are still closed. Suliol had said he had an eye, and to watch his work, because it will help him figure out what he's missing.

He starts twisting his fingers like he's braiding a new bow-string, almost absently, and stops with a quiet snort when he sees a glimmer of something forming. After a moment, he frowns, and starts again, concentrating on what he'd want. Family - mother, brother, uncle - and something else. His bow, his love of the unusual, perhaps just himself, poured into the intangable bowstring.

When he steps into the forge Suliol has been using as a classroom the next day, he mirrors her gesture when she'd tossed him her own chain, letting the stranded line uncoil across the room to be caught in her hands.

She's silent a moment, studying it, then grins. "Fire-Smith, you. Heart-stranded, feather-gold, white-steel, raven-flight and blue-steel, bow-wood and sinew." Suliol nods, wrapping it around one hand, and tugging hard, while Kíli leans back to balance against it. It holds easily, and all but sings in Kíli's hands under the tension. A chain that will hold against anything, he thinks, even if it isn't anything like what Fíli or Thorin have for anchor chains.

**Author's Note:**

> These two are tied together because Fíli and Kíli so often are, and I thought it would work nicely to have Suliol as part of it, because she can see what others don't see as easily. Fíli can't see what he's doing, but he can feel it, and it's enough for arcane works with metal and weapons, where he has to focus as much on the physical process as on the arcane process. Kíli, on the other hand, sees as much as anything, though unlike Ráva or Suliol, he has to actually think about it to see - and sometimes he closes his eyes because it makes it easier. Fíli is perhaps a wee bit jealous about that, but not greatly so.
> 
> Kíli's anchor chain for arcane work needed to reflect the difference between him and Fíli, and a good part of that was the simple structure of it - Fíli's is a riveted chain, while Kíli's is a braided strand rather like his bowstrings. There are four strands, braided in a sninnet, and each one is a different sort of material, representative of a particular aspect of his life. For Fíli, golden eagle feathers, that Suliol refers to as feather-gold. For Dís, steel, particularly white-steel (stainless?). For Thorin, blue-steel and raven feathers - raven-flight to Suliol - because Thorin is one of the strongest influences in Kíli's life. For Kíli himself, yew and sinew, like the components of a bow, because the bow is a large part of who he is.
> 
> And the difference in anchor-chain style and in how they percieve the arcane also highlights a difference in how the brothers work with the arcane. Fíli's more likely to make use of it in ways similar to Thorin, or other Smiths who work primarily in metal, or use it in battle. Kíli's more likely to be able to use it in the sort of fine gradations that Suliol does, and with greater power than she has - which allows him to shape stone and fire.


End file.
